Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Urban and Regional Planning, clip 3 of 15

Abstract

Brief excerpt from interview: The class itself has strengthened my knowledge of different cultures that inhabit Hawaii. I wouldn't be able to tell you where the Chuuk islands were before, or I actually found out that one of friend's boyfriends was Chamorro, and I never even heard of that.I also learned the different traditions and rituals to respect and to expect to see in hospitals when I care for them . . . that's the population that I'll probably be treating a lot so it opened my eyes to more than just the Hawaiian, Japanese, and Chinese population and Caucasian population here, so I felt it was definitely worthwhile. My friend who is Chamorro also hung out with a lot of Chuukese people and he told me that they chewed betel nut juice a lot . . . and finding that out like they're going to have teeth problems foreseeing that, so if I'm interviewing someone who is Chuukese, or Chamorro, or Micronesian I know to check their teeth as well because that's an important aspect about betel juice . . . I never knew about that and that helps. I understand now, too, the high importance of the rankings of the community. In a Chuukese community there's someone that's an elder and they make the decisions.They make the health decisions for their community so even if I want to work one-on-one with this person who's ill, I need to work also with the elders so that way they give permission for this person to get treatment. Otherwise if I'm just working with the person who is just a community member and is sick and wants to get treatment--they won't be able to get it and . . . the reason why that is is the elder takes care of the community. They help pays for their bills. I mean everything is a community and it's kind of like a small society where the elder takes care of everyone. Money's pulled in from the community and they all help each other. It's amazing. It's their own little society.